England and Wales Census 2021 - RM074: Legal partnership status by sex by age

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 16 years and over in England and Wales by legal partnership status, by sex and by age. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Separate estimates by opposite and same-sex partnerships for the marital status categories “Separated”, “Divorced/dissolved” and “Widowed/surviving partners” are not available. This is because quality assurance showed the figures for some of the categories were unreliable. Read more about this quality notice.

Estimates for single year of age between ages 90 and 100+ are less reliable than other ages. Estimation and adjustment at these ages was based on the age range 90+ rather than five-year age bands. Read more about this quality notice.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Lower tier local authorities

Lower tier local authorities provide a range of local services. There are 309 lower tier local authorities in England made up of 181 non-metropolitan districts, 59 unitary authorities, 36 metropolitan districts and 33 London boroughs (including City of London). In Wales there are 22 local authorities made up of 22 unitary authorities.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. However, you can choose to filter areas by:

  • country - for example, Wales
  • region - for example, London
  • local authority - for example, Cornwall
  • health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
  • statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

Marital and civil partnership status

Classifies a person according to their legal marital or registered civil partnership status on Census Day 21 March 2021.

It is the same as the 2011 census variable "Marital status" but has been updated for Census 2021 to reflect the revised Civil Partnership Act that came into force in 2019.

In Census 2021 results, "single" refers only to someone who has never been married or in a registered civil partnership.

Sex

This is the sex recorded by the person completing the census. The options were “Female” and “Male”.

Age

A person’s age on Census Day, 21 March 2021 in England and Wales. Infants aged under 1 year are classified as 0 years of age.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated June 10, 2024, 14:30 (BST)
Created April 5, 2023, 15:23 (BST)
Visibility Public
Year 2021
Topics Demography
Units Persons
Geographic Layer Census Electoral Divisions
Census Wards
Countries
Integrated Care Boards
Local Health Boards
Lower Super Output Areas
Lower Tier Local Authorities
Middle Super Output Areas
NHS England Regions
Output Areas
Regions
Sub Integrated Care Board Locations
Upper Tier Local Authorities
Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies
Frequency Decennial
DOI https://doi.org/10.5257/census/aggregate-2021-1
Citation Office for National Statistics; National Records of Scotland; Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency; UK Data Service. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5257/census/aggregate-2021-1
Geographical Coverage Location England and Wales
Granularity Country down to output areas
Geographic Spatial data {"geo_type": "polygon", "lat": "52.4036", "lon": "-1.93872", "left": "-6.53687", "top": "55.8275", "right": "1.98853", "bottom": "49.6694", "srid": null, "accuracy": null, "source": null}